Model City Art Show

Well, the awards for the Model City Art Show at FunFest were announced at a reception last Sunday while I was on the road from Wisconsin to Iowa, but my piece "Wending Onward" won one of the two presentation awards for the most effective/professional presentation of work.

I used a serious amount of stitching at the edges to create a quilted frame. This allows the design to continue all the way to the edge while still creating a visual "stop."

Congratulations to all the other winners:

Margaret Helvey (best in show)
Nancy D. Bilbro (second)
Tony Henson (third)
John Hilton, Rebecca Dunham, Diane Nelson, and JoAnn Wilkerson Lyle (awards of excellence)
Lily Horton and John Denner (student awards)
Thelma Wyatt (the other presentation award)
JoAnn Wilkerson Lyle again (Celebrate Kingsport award)

Roving II also is in this show, and here is its premier online showing as seen in the gallery:

Details aren't up on my website yet, but the background is a piece of fabric I dyed stretched on a frame over cotton duck, and the trees are a separate piece applied to the background. The main tree is needle felted and the other trees are created dimensionally with the quilting.


This is similar to the piece that appeared in the April 2010 Quilting Arts mag, but I wanted to try this presentation with something small so I could decide whether it works before committing to a larger piece.

The show, run by the Kingsport Art Guild, will hang through July 28, 2010, in the Main Art Gallery at the Renaissance Center, 1200 E. Center St. in Kingsport.

3132 Green Mixing Bowl

Well, I managed to make it to one meeting of the Kingsport Art Guild's June paint out, but it was one productive session. Found a great green mixing bowl (stock or booth number 3132) in the front window in great lighting with a table and chair just the right size to set up my felting. And here's the result:


This is the first time I tried "painting" with felt from life. Didn't know if the process would be fast enough or if it would be nerve-wracking, but it was very meditative and satisfying in the end. The only thing I'd have done differently was lifting the piece from the foam more often--the foam nearly became part of the final work!

It's hanging right now at a small exhibit of work from the paint out entitled Textures and Treasures at the Main Art Center in the Downtown Kingsport Association Building at the corner of Main and Shelby Streets.